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Collection: Directories and Documents

Bishop Eugene O'Connell - Pioneer Bishop of Grass Valley (April 1, 1976) (4 pages)

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SACRAMENTO DIOCESAN ARCHIVES Fr John E Boll, Diocesan Archivist BISHOP EUGENE O’CONNELL PIONEER BISHOP OF GRASS VALLEY By Father John Dwyer, printed April 1, 1976 in the Catholic Herald When Rome approved the decisions of the Second Plenary Council of Baltimore on March 3, 1868, the old Vicariate became a diocese but the new See City was to be Grass Valley, a decision that did not meet the approval of Bishop O’Connell. According to him it was “going from the greater to the lesser” because the mines were dying out at the time. Nevertheless the decision had been made: Grass Valley was the See. However, Bishop O’Connell partially won his point because Rome never compelled him to give up his residency in Marysville. No sooner had he become the ordinary of Grass Valley than the summons came for the bishops of the world to come to Rome for the First Vatican Council. Meanwhile, the transcontinental railroad had been completed and when Bishop O’Connell left for Rome it was by train. When Archbishop Alemany and Bishop Amat arrived by train in Reno on October 7, 1869, Bishop O’Connell was waiting for them on the platform. The three prelates then journeyed together to New York where they boarded a ship for Europe. Bishop O’Connell was gone from his diocese for a full year, returning to Grass Valley on November 22, 1870. His arrival at the Papal audience caused quite a stir as his gift for the Holy Father Pius IX was somewhat unusual. Denis J Oliver of the Grass Valley Diocese gave him a 300 pound ingot of silver. It required six papal guards to carry it to the Holy Father at the audience. Bishop O’Connell had an opportunity at the end of the Council to visit his beloved All Hallows before his return to California. Meanwhile Bishop O’Connell continued to pay for the education of young priests at All Hallows, and as fast as they came, he populated the towns of the diocese with parishes and priests. Thus at the end of 10 years in 1871, he was able to report that he had 22 parishes and 28 priests. The parishes were as follows: On the coast: Crescent City, Eureka, Rohnerville and Mendocino. In the north: Yreka; Weaverville, and Red Bluff. In the center: Colusa, Oroville, Marysville (2 parishes), Grass Valley, Nevada City, Forest Hill, Downieville and Truckee. In Nevada: Virginia City, Gold Hill, Carson City, Austin, Hamilton and Pioche. There were now five convents of Sisters: the Notre Dame Sisters in Marysville and the Mercy Sisters in Grass Valley, and the Daughters of Charity in Virginia City. Likewise there had been foundations of Mercy Sisters in Yreka and also in Eureka.